In my head this was not including any appliances. My ACTUAL budget comes in at $11,193.56 minus some small miscellaneous purchases but also including my fridge and a washer/dryer unit… not shabby! I am estimating I had close to $7,000 savings due to sponsors and donations. Without those I still feel like someone could build a very nice tiny house for under $20,000 if they were diligent about it. I definitely had some mistakes but I am glad I have had very little waste! I bet if I tried I could skim maybe $300-$500 more off of this (wrong color paint, lost electrical boxes/covers, etc.) but really I did fairly well with eliminating waste to date. There are certainly people who have spent less than me on their house and come out with a lovely end product. Here are some of MY major expenses which could be eliminated or substituted with a more cost effective solution, in most cases I have reasons for not going with the cheaper option, just let me know if you want to know what any of those reasons are:

Sun Touch Warm Wire radiant floor heat $375.00

SunMar Composting Toilet $2000.00

Bathroom Sink $203.00

Dal Tile Floor Tiles $518.21

TPO Roofing System $701.83

Washer Dryer Unit $886.00

The costs of these 6 items start to approach $5000.00 by themselves. Without using these you would have to substitute for a different solution but it could potentially be MUCH less expensive.

I’m actually pretty excited to be broke 🙂 I feel like my money went to a very good place and certainly a great investment! Not to mention all the experiences I’ve had so far! Very cool! Now to finish it all… 🙂 Hope all are well!

Like this:

I am an artist, a steward, a minimalist at heart... I love being out in the sunshine... I love animals of nearly every kind, at least the furry ones, I am trying to be a gardener... I believe people are good at the core but are also capable of very bad things when they aren't intentional about their actions... I love my family, my passions and my life... I am just me :)

I’ve always thought that was silly too… If I want to live urban though…. *shrugs* :). I think these things span the whole spectrum on cost… Had I hired it done it would have been exactly the same end product but likely 3 times the cost… labor isn’t cheap, even cheap labor :). I am really digging your house, it is an excellent example of very cost effective awesome tiny-house-ness… I made that up 🙂

It’s amazing that you were able to create such an awesome house for half the price of a new car!

Especially since you didn’t skimp on some real luxuries. I mean, how many traditional houses have $2000 toilets? And radiant heating? And river rock shower floors?

But aside from all that, the best thing about your house is your simple, efficient, elegant design. While I love all the little homemade homes being built, and love all their quirky little personal details, there is an elegance to the original Tumbleweeds built by Tumbleweed itself. Your house is the only other tiny house I’ve seen that approaches that level of elegance.

Your blog has been so much fun to follow – I’m going to miss it! But I’m super excited to see you cross the finish line, and get to start living in your house!

Macy Miller

My name is Macy, I started building my 196 square foot tiny home December 2011, in the process I met a boy, James. 18 months after starting my house we moved in and started our family which includes our daughter, Hazel, son, Miles, and our Great Dane, Denver. This is where I talk about my experience with all of that :).
To learn more about us click here

Ethan's fantastic resource for all things tiny house. Takes you through every decision, from noob to dweller.

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